Hits on H'bad, not Israel, as development hub

Kalyan Parbat, TNNSep 7, 2003, 09.27pm IST

KOLKATA: Microsoft dollars flowing out of Redmond could give Haifa the slip and home in on Hyderabad.

In Microsoft's $32-bn global ecosystem, India may have just stolen a march over Israel in light of the executive management's latest decision to position Hyderabad and not Haifa as the company's prime software development hub outside the US. "The company's global management envisions far bigger growth opportunities in India since the Hyderabad facility is considered the prime offshore hub for development of Microsoft's main product-line for key international markets," said Srini Koppolu, managing director of Microsoft India (R&D), which runs the Microsoft India Development Centre in Hyderabad. Microsoft India (R&D) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft.

In coming months, the Hyderabad hub will spearhead Microsoft's livewire enterprise storage solutions business, which is seen as $5-bn global opportunity. Small wonder, Microsoft has just cobbled together a 100-member crack team of software engineers by pooling in the brightest talent available at Hyderabad and Redmond in equal measure.

At a time when CEOs worldwide are slashing corporate IT spends, Microsoft feels its enterprise storage solutions will allow end-user retrievability of crucial lost data, in turn, reducing a company's dependence on high-cost information technology administrative function. "The idea is to offer a simple solution that allows companies to do more by spending less in IT administration," said Mr Koppolu. Enthusiasm over Hyderabad's strategic role will not undermine the importance of Microsoft's Haifa hub, but its activities will be confined to Microsoft's security-related business.

Not surprisingly, bulk of Microsoft's global investments in its offshore development centres are slated to hit Hyderabad.

For starters, the company will splurge close to $35m (Rs 160 crore) in an integrated software development complex in suburban Hyderabad for which Microsoft has just acquired a prime 42-acre plot from the Andhra Pradesh government. Microsoft is also ramping up its manpower strength in Hyderabad from its 200-odd software engineers, at present, to over 500 by end-'05.

The Andhra Pradesh government led by its IT-savvy chief minister Chandrababu Naidu is doing its bit to complement Microsoft's software ambitions in India as a quality infrastructure provider. The state proposes to locate a swanky international airport near the upcoming Microsoft complex and an eight-lane expressway that will link it with the main city.

"At present, we are trying to establish international flight connectivity between Hyderabad and leading international business centres like London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and perhaps Seattle," said Randeep Sudan, special secretary to Chandrababu Naidu. Mr Sundan is also ex-officio IT secretary in the Andhra Pradesh government.